WEConnect International in South Africa’s held a Match Making event for multinational corporate members and WEConnect International certified women business enterprises on 17 January 2017. Hosted at EY in Johannesburg, this event is the first in a series of quarterly match making events planned for 2017. Linda Basson, Procurement Lead, MART (Middle East, Africa, Russia and Turkey), Accenture, opened the matchmaking session by highlighting the progress made by WEConnect International in South Africa and the growth potential for SMMEs in the organisation. She added that there are business opportunities available for small businesses at Accenture.

Other corporates attending the event included Katlego Malatji, EY; Hank Van Rensburg, Absa; Naul Bezuidenhout, Monsanto; Jacob Pretorius, Johnson & Johnson and Jolene Classen, Cummins. Through individual presentations and updates, each corporate shared new opportunities in 2017 and some of the latest procurement strategies, thereby setting the scene for engagement with the women business enterprises for 2017. Some of the opportunities include RFPs in agriculture, facilities management, marketing and stationery from Monsanto; and construction, facilities management, real estate and corporate services from Cummins. Other corporates mentioned they were restructuring their procurement teams and that the procurement strategy for 2017 is still to be approved.

During the event, Jean Chawapiwa, Executive Director, WEConnect International in South Africa, provided a number of updates. This included the great news that the renewal fee for certified women’s business enterprises has been reduced from $600 to $300 as of 1 January. Jean also announced that 2017 WEConnect International in South Africa Annual Conference will take place on 11 May 2017 in Johannesburg. More event details will be available in the coming month.

WEConnect International in South Africa identifies, educates, registers, and certifies women's business enterprises that are at least 51% owned, managed, and controlled by one or more women. WEConnect International is the only non-profit organisation in South Africa that provides the seal of certification uniquely to Women Business Enterprises (WBEs), and also, that connects these WBEs with multi-national corporate purchasing organizations across diverse industries. Our signature seal of certification is a formal guarantee to corporations that they are purchasing goods and/or services from South African businesses that meet universal standards for WBEs.